Age of Shockmar

“The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.”

– Friedrich Nietzsche

After quarter of a century in the hobby, growing up with the 40000 imagery and still continuing to love building and painting this gothic visions of the far future I’m left in shock for the first time. The cosy, rich and legendary game of Fantasy battles that was Warhammer is gone. And I hated the way it was done and much of the new deign aesthetic.

Then I changed my mind.

I never got into Fantasy Battle. Using a bow when you can pick a shuriken cannon, painting a dragon when you can build attack craft capable of space flight , being stuck in a world versus discovering the grim dark universe of the far future was never even a choice.

Enter the Age of Sigmar. Awkwardly communicated event that is at the same time one of the most important decisions for Games Workshops business since entering the Middle Earth and the biggest change in the paradigm in the history of their games. And something that clearly needed to happen – painful as it is.

Landing in the form Adeptus Custodes without the Aquila and fire arms, with awkwardly sitting insignia of Sigmar and the Empire of man a new era begins. For hobbyists like me, who in the past decade have built more models from Fantasy Battle kits than 40K, what follows is an awkward wait to see how the new aesthetic takes shape – if the grandiose will entertain the mundane, the sad, creepy and utterly gothic that flagellants, great swords, undead, with elves and the like brought with them.

An unfortunate side effect of the summer and the age of sigmar has been losing my excitement about the hobby for a little while now, but nothing like the power of changing one’s mind to get creative again. So today I spent a small fortune at the GW online store, buying the last of the simply gorgeous new Mechanicus range and the two new Marine Codeci – And Age of Sigmar!

If this sort of risk taking and bravery keeps radiating from the creative heart of Games Workshop, soon they will redo the entire Space Marine miniature range to be in scale and detail with the storyline and artwork, and their sales and stock will go through the roof with the utter enthusiasm of hobbyists everywhere!

Game on!

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Migs

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12 thoughts on “Age of Shockmar”

Have to agree with your comments. For me, when I first saw AoS I was a bit hit and miss. However after a while I now “get” it. GW has always and will always be about its IP. That’s it. The models, books, games, computer games, artwork etc its purely about IP. 40k has space marines, Warhammer had …?
There are so many table top games out there with either better sculpted, better priced, or better game systems, but what keep me with GW is their IP.
AoS gives GW the chance to rewrite EVERYTHING from the ground up in their IP with AoS and I think that is awesome. It also gives them a chance to fix the scaling issues so we now have awesomely scaled heros. Finally from an aesthetic, these guys are for a new generation. These guys can also fill shop walls as posters, artwork or models and actually turn heads, similar to how a space marine can. They are cool!
I really hope AoS takes off and the lore etc grows as well as the space marine one has. I mean look at how well the Space Marine IP has done. Its half the 40k range PLUS, what started as a bit of background fluff of where these guys came from has now turned into a hugely successful spin off company in Forge World and the 30k range.
Everyone complains, including myself, about their prices, communication, dodgy models etc, but what AoS made me realize is these are not GWs core strengths or why I stay with this company is a world where there are so many other great models, game systems etc. Its their IP and IMO its still the best. I really cant wait to see what happens with a brand new entire world will be.

(EDIT: we deleted the trolling comment this post refers to -Ironsleet)

Iron Sleet gets its first troll. Now you know you’ve made it gents. 🙂

Back on topic, Age of Sigmar is actually the first time I’ve been truly excited about fantasy for a very long time. I just never liked Warhammer Fantasy. Too many silly bits for my taste (goblin doomdivers et al.). AoS has struck a chord with me though. The minis have a grand, mythic quality to them and I can’t wait to see how it develops.

I ordered the starter box on the strength of the miniatures. While i’m not sure I would want a full army made up mostly of liberators and my feelings towards the flying guys are somewhat ambivalent (can humans taking off or landing ever be other than somewhat awkward in pose?), the rest is pretty good. The celestant and the guys with two handed hammers even very good. Plus, both sides fit together nicely, a bit but not quite like a chess set.

As for rules, it can’t be worse than WFB (in any of its incarnations). At least they opened it up & made it playable at skirmish level. And they got rid of points values! I’d still take Battlesworn or a matrix game anytime time over AOS, but it looks acceptable enough for the occasional game.

One thing AOS really could use, is inspiring art. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s all a bit one dimensional. The Old World benefited enormously from the great produced for it by the likes of John Blanche, Ian Miller etc. Most of this stuff was decades old by the time WFB died, but GW kept recycling it, so they must have known it was often more inspiring than the slick commercial illustrations they tend to commission nowadays.

In the end much will depend on what hobbyists do with what GW offers them. I enjoy following the Inq28 scene with its creative conversions & grimdark paintjobs, while most regular WH40K stuff leaves me indifferent. At least this release will get me painting, perhaps even gaming, again after years of non-activity.

I have played Warhammer Fantasy Battle from 3rd to 6th Edition and, although I am not playing WFB in its’ current edition, I am sad that that WFB and the Old World has come to an end… well, a sort of end as the story and rules have changed but the story line has actually been carried forward, I guess. I did not think Chaos would win and destroy the Old World?! I have read that the current style of the in production WFB models will also be phased-out as time goes on but I am not sure if that is mere rumor or fact? If it is fact, yikes! I took it for granted that I would always be able to buy WFB models when the mood struck me. Okay, so, The Age of Sigmar, what do I think? I don’t have a problem with simple rules that work. For example, I like the free, simple, interesting, one-or-a-couple-of-pages rules done by: One Page Rules and Gawd ‘elp Us Games. I have glanced at the AoS rules and the Warscolls but haven’t read them thoroughly. I do wonder about playing without points value but in WFB 3rd Edition there are points but they are not all that important because the game is about a story-driven wargames experience. Perhaps, that idea is part of AoS? The AoS models? Not too bad, I suppose… They are very different from what I thought they might be… there are a number of personal taste issues that I have with some aspects of the sculpts. I do like the overall size increase which is probably because I will always remember and love the 54mm Airfix, Marx, and Britains Deetail toy soldiers of my youth! Will I buy AoS in the immediate future? No, I have various other projects that are currently occupying my interest and hobby budget, plus, I would like to read the rules and play a game using my current models before I consider buying any AoS releases…